


the hopeless gate of your heart

by radialarch



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25027195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radialarch/pseuds/radialarch
Summary: Dimitri gets hit with a curse that makes everyone fall in love with him. Funny, though: Felix is the same as he always is.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 8
Kudos: 178
Collections: FE3H Kink Meme





	the hopeless gate of your heart

**Author's Note:**

> title from "you are tired (i think)", e. e. cummings. thanks to lucy for looking this over!

Dimitri had, in what he had to admit was a highly undignified manner, snuck into the library and just settled into the darkest corner when Felix came upon him.

In fact, due to the poor lighting, Felix tripped over Dimitri's feet, tumbled over him with a grunt, and slammed an elbow into Dimitri's ribs in the process.

"Ow," said Dimitri.

"What the hell," said Felix, scowling, "what are you _doing_ ," and then added, as a sort of afterthought, "People are looking for you. Quite a few of them, in fact."

"I am aware," said Dimitri, darting a glance at the door, but no one else seemed to have followed Felix in. It had taken quite an effort to escape the crowd at the entrance hall. "Er. You won't tell them I'm here, will you?"

"Why would I?" Felix, having straightened up, was rubbing at his forearm. "I'm not your keeper. Hide from whomever you'd like."

Dimitri had expected Felix to move away at once, but the seconds ticked by, and Felix showed no inclination to do so. He swept an assessing gaze over Dimitri, his pink face and disheveled appearance, and as he did so his eyebrow twitched higher and higher. "Not that I care," he said abruptly, "but you're usually not a coward."

"Oh. Thank you?" From Felix, that was almost a compliment. Dimitri thought this might be the nicest conversation they'd had in years.

"So why aren't you," Felix said, with an irate gesture in Dimitri's direction, "out there being beastly at whatever the problem is? Don't tell me you're not spoiling for a fight—I know you."

"Ah," said Dimitri. He would have preferred something he could fight, not this—trickery, which left many victims and no clear enemy. "I believe I've been cursed. It's better if no one is in contact with me."

Felix pushed himself backwards a hand-span, away from Dimitri, studying Dimitri again through narrowed eyes. "Should've said that earlier," he said. "What kind? Did Manuela take a look at you?"

"Professor Manuela," Dimitri said, then stopped as his ears went hot. "Yes, for a moment."

"And?"

"Well, she proposed marriage, and then I left." Or, well, _fled_ would have been a more accurate word. Professor Manuela had been extremely...enthusiastic.

Felix stared at Dimitri. "Sorry, _what_?"

"As I've said." Dimitri sighed. "A curse. It appears to be the residual effect of a spell from earlier. It must incite, ah, amorous intent."

"You don't know that." Felix's lips twitched, just a fraction. "Maybe she just fancied being Queen of Faerghus. Teachers retire. Or something."

"After I escaped the infirmary," said Dimitri, "Flayn approached me to declare that she desired to share fish with me every day of my natural life." Peculiar phrasing, but the girl was young.

Dimitri could make out Felix mouthing _share fish_ to himself. "Is that some sort of euphemism?"

" _While Seteth stood behind her_ ," Dimitri hissed. "And then he said it would be a _pleasure_ to welcome me into the _family_."

Felix was silent. For a moment, Dimitri was afraid he was going to congratulate him.

But no, Felix was laughing. That was what was shaking his shoulders, compressing his mouth. "A curse," he said, strangled, and buried his face into the crook of his arm, though that did little to muffle the sounds of his mirth. "I see."

"So you see, I thought it would be better to beat a tactical retreat—"

"—oh, don't pretend you know anything about _tactics_ —"

"—until the spell wears off. It seemed best to spare everyone the awkwardness." A horrible thought struck. "Spells do normally wear off, do they not?"

"Probably," said Felix, who was an indifferent student at best when it came to dark magic. He'd stopped giggling. "Who else has been bothering you?"

"I don't think that's fair," Dimitri protested. "You shouldn't blame our friends for the curse—"

"Our friends?" Felix repeated. "Oh, I'm going to _kill_ Sylvain."

"Please don't," Dimitri said hastily. "He only offered some, er, observations on my form—"

Felix _snarled_. Dimitri elected, wisely, not to mention Lorenz's contributions, which had involved more metaphor but felt just as indecent. "But no one means it. I'm glad that you are, at least, entirely yourself. I am familiar with evasions in court politics, of course, but you can't imagine how strange it is to be faced with such sincerity when you know perfectly well it must be a lie."

Felix gave him a strange look. "Sure I do," he said.

"I—Felix?"

"Never mind," said Felix. "I'd better go." He grimaced, pushing himself up to his feet, and for a moment, he was all Dimitri could see. "If you're not in class tomorrow, shall I send out a search party? I can't imagine hiding out here is going to work for long."

"I don't believe that would be wise," Dimitri said, and only realized when Felix grinned that it was a joke. His smile was softer from this angle. "No, I'll—well, I'll take care of it somehow."

"You're even worse at magic than I am," said Felix. "Cheer up, boar. I'll sneak you a plate for meals if it gets worse."

Dimitri found himself grinning back at Felix's back as he left. It was only after Felix walked out the library doors that Dimitri realized he hadn't taken any books with him.

—

It was quite late when Dimitri finally found the courage to emerge from his hiding place and return to his room. He took solace in the fact that the nuns did little more than glance at him while he hurried through the corridors, and when he abruptly ran into Professor Byleth by the greenhouse, it was to a blessedly disinterested gaze.

"Heard you had some trouble," said the professor. "Got it all sorted out?"

"I believe so," said Dimitri nervously. "At least, no one's made any romantic advances on me for the last hour." Hopefully Professor Byleth wasn't going to prove him wrong. That would be awkward.

"Oh, was that the problem?" The professor peered closer at him. "I know that one. Can get nasty. Usually not a battlefield spell, though. No immunity to it, see. I came across it once at the bottom of a three-village feud. _That_ was a tricky one to sort out."

Dimitri sometimes forgot that Professor Byleth's knowledge of magic came more from mercenary work than book work. It was fascinating when the differences came up; some days, he thought the nobility missed a lot, playing out the same roles over and over again. Though the professor was surely mistaken about the effects—Felix had certainly seemed immune. "Well, no harm done here," he said. "Perhaps only to our dignities, but that will heal. Good night, professor."

No one accosted him as he went up the dormitory stairs, and in fact when Ingrid saw him come into the hall she turned bright red and stammered several apologies at him until they agreed, with some relief, to never speak of it again. So that was fine. Already the experience was becoming an amusing anecdote, and he was ready to stop thinking about it for the night.

Of course, the fool that he was, Dimitri was midway through his toilette when Felix barged into his room, said, " _Ingrid?_ " in the appalled tone he generally reserved for Dimitri himself, and then noticed Dimitri's state of undress and shut his mouth so swiftly that Dimitri heard his teeth click.

"Felix," Dimitri said, groping around for an undershirt. "I assure you nothing dishonorable transpired between us, or indeed between me and anyone. It appears that the curse has worn off, and I remain a free man." He finally fumbled the shirt over his head. He was still nowhere near presentable, but, well, Felix had seen worse.

"Curse wore off, huh," Felix said. He was still staring at Dimitri. "I see."

"So the evidence suggests." Dimitri was recovered enough now to offer Felix a grin. "And perhaps you should be congratulated, for I think you are the only one of our classmates without any need for embarrassment tomorrow."

One of Felix's eyebrows twitched. "Really."

"Indeed."

"Well, I suppose that's not a surprise." Felix finally dropped his gaze, and now he was kicking restlessly at the carpet. "I know what you are. None of the others care."

"I didn't know you did," said Dimitri, without thinking, and saw the moment Felix's face went white.

"Shut up," Felix said roughly, and then: "I'm leaving."

He was turning to open the door. Dimitri caught his wrist before he could turn the handle. "No, Felix, wait."

"Let _go_ of me, you beast!"

The color had rushed back to Felix's face, spots of pink high on his cheeks, but Dimitri wasn't looking for rage in his eyes, nor contempt in the twist of his mouth. Beneath his jaw Felix's pulse was fluttering, and Dimitri reached up to press his hand there, as gentle as he knew how, felt it pound with a desperation he felt in his own teeth.

"I didn't know," Dimitri said again, more urgent, willing him to understand. He'd been a fool. He'd thought Felix disgusted with him, angry, pathetic: any number of things Dimitri thought himself, when it was dark and the dead were howling. He'd thought Felix didn't _care_ , when surely Dimitri of all people should have understood how potent a weapon could be forged out of grief. "Felix, how long?"

"You don't know anything," Felix snarled with bared teeth, but the fight had gone out of him. Under Dimitri's hands, he felt as light and breakable as a bird. "How long what?"

No immunity, wasn't that what Professor Byleth had said? All day, Dimitri had been confronted with confessions both shy and bold, indecent and earnest, and known that whatever love the curse stirred in people's hearts didn't mean anything. But Felix had been the same. He was the same now, like between them Dimitri was the one who'd changed.

Dimitri _had_. "How long," he said, "have you been in love with me?" and felt something iced over inside him crack open. He was meant to die at fourteen, and now he spent his days chasing ghosts. No one should be in love with him.

Felix's jaw tightened. For a moment he didn't speak at all. Every time he took a breath his collarbones shifted beneath his throat.

"I don't know," he finally said, each word a fight. "It doesn't matter."

He thought Felix hated him. He deserved that.

"You never told me," Dimitri said. He wanted, badly, to touch Felix's mouth, the damp corner of his eye. He hadn't known he could want that.

"You were gone," Felix said. "You _left_." He was, Dimitri realized, about to cry. There was the same tremble of his lip Dimitri remembered well from childhood.

"I'm sorry," Dimitri said, wretched, pulling back his hands. What more was there for him to say? He'd been blind. Every mask he put on Felix had seen straight through, while Dimitri hadn't seen him at all.

"Don't," said Felix, low. "I don't want apologies from you. I never did." He was reaching for Dimitri now, gripping painfully at Dimitri's shoulders. "Just. Shut up."

Felix's teeth were digging into Dimitri's lower lip. No—Felix was kissing him. It was like a war. Felix kissed like he wanted to draw blood, and Dimitri wanted to let him.

It was over too soon. Felix stepped back, scrubbed at his face, and Dimitri's mouth was wet. "All I ever fucking wanted," Felix said, and laughed. "You know, I used to ask my father when you'd come home. It was a long time before I stopped."

There was something Dimitri could say in response. It took him a while to put the right words together; he was out of practice at it.

"I don't know if I remember the way," he said. The smile felt wrong on his face, so he didn't try to put it on. "But I would like to try."

Felix heaved out a breath. "Why?" he said, and the way he said it was careful. Dimitri could break this so easily, whatever fragile truce Felix was offering. He wouldn't even have to lie.

"I think," he said, prying the truth from beneath his ribs, "I am tired." In the end, it was as simple as that.

His ghosts were still here. Grief burned in his throat. But Felix came to him, led him to his bed like a child, and his touch warmed Dimitri's hands like nothing had done in a long time.

"Will you stay?" Dimitri asked while Felix blew out the candle. Felix didn't say a word, but the next moment there was a warm weight sliding into the bed by Dimitri's side, and Dimitri buried his nose in the soft space between Felix's head and shoulder, let the sounds of Felix's breathing lull him to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> do you ever post a prompt on the kinkmeme and then promptly fill it yourself because you are an absolute clown? hi.


End file.
